


Persona Q: Shadow of Despair

by TheCacklingLass



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Persona 3, Persona 4
Genre: Crossover, Multi, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-06 12:40:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4222062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCacklingLass/pseuds/TheCacklingLass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minako Arisato wakes up in Hope's Peak Academy with no idea how she got there, surrounded by fifteen strangers, and told by a talking robotic dog to start murdering them. Luck must not count for much after all.</p><p>A crossover fic that takes the setting and premise of Dangan Ronpa and (most of) the characters from SEES and the Investigation team from Persona 3 and 4. All of the talents were ones that actually appear in the Dangan Ronpa games. Features the Female Main Character from Persona 3 rather than the male one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue - The First Steps

The first thing Minako became aware of as she slowly woke up was a trail of drool running down her cheek. The second was that whatever her head was laying on, it was hard and uncomfortable. She screwed her eyes tighter shut with a groan and groggily swung herself into a more upright position before she opened her eyes into a dull, half lidded gaze. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked around the room she found herself in. She saw sixteen desks, arranged in neat rows of four, as well as a podium and a whiteboard.

‘Huh, a classroom,’ she thought, before her eyes went wide and she was suddenly very awake.

Along one side of the classroom were a series of thick metal sheets on the walls, where she assumed windows should have been. They looked secure, too - in addition to almost comically large metal bolts at the corners of each of the pieces of metal, the edges of them looked to be stuck to the wall somehow. Welding, maybe. In any case, the sight was certainly unusual, and unwelcome enough to set Minako’s heart beating faster. An intense feeling of dread clawed its way up from the bottom of her stomach, and she swallowed heavily, trying to keep it in check. She stood up, slowly, carefully, and made her way to the door at the front of the classroom. She hesitated before trying the handle. ‘What if it’s locked?’ she thought, ‘What if I’m completely trapped in here? What if...’

She shook her head, as if that would clear the thoughts all crowding for her attention. ‘Even if it is locked, there’s no harm in trying it, right?’ With a shaking hand, she reached out and pulled the door open, slowly, as if afraid she might break it by applying too much force.

Beyond the door was a hallway. In that hallway, the light had a strange quality to it that, if such words could be applied to light, would be best described as claustrophobic. Minako could not see any windows in the hallway, covered or otherwise, but she could see a number of doors and a staircase blocked off by a metal grating at one end of the hallway. She could not see the other end, as the hallway stretched off into the dim, oppressive light and was eventually swallowed by darkness. She walked towards the staircase, trying each of the doors on the way there only to find them, curiously enough, all locked. It unnerved her that all the rooms should be closed off save the one she woke up in, but she tried to brush the feeling off as she turned around and, gathering her courage, began walking towards the end of the hall that remained a mystery.

After a time she thought she began to hear the faintest hint of voices. She stopped briefly when it first registered, surprised. She faced a moment of indecision - did she follow the sound to its source, in hopes that she may find someone who could tell her what was going on, or did she steer clear, for fear that the voices could mean danger? The moment passed, and she decided on the former. Following the voices led her to a set of slightly ajar double doors through which a brighter light spilled. Minako gripped the hem of her skirt, then took a deep breath and relaxed before she opened the door all the way and stepped inside.

Beyond the threshold, there was a group of fifteen people, all talking animatedly in small groups. None of them seemed to notice her at first, save for a tall, well dressed boy with neat silver hair leaning against a wall in one of the near corners by himself. He made no move to approach her, however, only acknowledged her presence with a slight nod. Perhaps more interesting, however, was that there was a large door like one might expect to find on a bank vault on the opposite side of the room, and a pair of what appeared to be mounted machine guns attached to the ceiling, trained on the larger entrance.

“Hey, looks like we got another straggler!” the observation came from a slouching boy with a baseball cap and a slight soul patch. Suddenly, all eyes were on Minako and the chatter stopped. Awkward silence took its place, and for several agonizingly slow seconds her eyes flicked from one strange pair of eyes to the next. ‘Like some sort of old movie standoff,’ she thought wryly.

“Well don’t just stand there, introduce yourself already!” A tall blonde man with an apron who looked to be the oldest one in the group shouted.

“Oh! Right. Sorry. My name’s Minako Arisato,” she bowed quickly, “Um… I’m… not really sure what else to say in this situation.”

“Excuse me,” a stunning girl with long red hair spoke up this time, “but do you perhaps have what some refer to as an ‘Ultimate Talent’?”

“Yes,” Minako was caught slightly off guard by the question, “how did you know?” by way of answer, the girl only nodded sagely.

“That all but confirms it then,” she said, half to herself, “Each and every person here is - or rather, was meant to be - a student at Hope’s Peak Academy.”

“Indeed,” a different girl, with blonde hair and a pair of headphones hanging around her neck, spoke now, “And I assume that you do not remember how you arrived here.”

“I- yes, that’s right” Minako looked curiously around at the faces before her, “Do… do none of you know how you got here?”

There was some movement among the crowd, some averted gazes and shifting glances, some hemming and hawing, and though none of the students spelled it out directly for her, the answer to her question was clear enough. Another awkward silence followed the assorted shufflings, until the silver haired boy in the corner came forward and stood beside Minako. He clasped his hands together loudly.

“Well, regardless of why, how, or where we are, I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough,” his voice was soothing and calm and had just the right amount of deep resonance, “For now, though, I think it’d be a good idea if we all went around a reintroduced ourselves so Miss Arisato here is up to speed,” a mumble of assent passed around, and the boy nodded firmly, “Very well then. I’ll go first. My name is Yu Narukami, the Ultimate Prince,” he turned towards Minako and made a low, exaggerated bow, sweeping one arm across his body, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Minako giggled a little at that, and when Yu came up he had a wide, goofy grin plastered across his face, and everyone felt a little of the tension ease out of the room. It was like a dam had broken, and suddenly there was a rush of introductions.

“Yosuke Hanamura, Ultimate Mechanic,” A plain looking boy with brown hair said, offering a hand for her to shake, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yo,” The man in the apron jerked his head upward, “name’s Kanji Tatsumi, th’ Ultimate Chef.”

“My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. They call me the Ultimate Affluent Prodigy,” the redhead stated simply. Baseball cap was next.

“I’m Junpei Iori, the Ultimate Baseball Star,” he informed her, before he was rudely pushed out of the way by a foreign-looking blonde boy in an even more stylish outfit than Yu’s.

“My my my, what fortune to have crossed the path of such a beauty as you, young miss! Standing before you is the one and only ever-stylish Teddie Starr, the Ultimate Fashion Model!” He grabbed her hand and kissed it, sending shivers of discomfort rippling through her, “At your service.”

“Teddie, are you bothering this poor girl?” another extraordinarily pretty girl - this one with long black hair and wearing a kimono - came up to them, with a plain girl in a green jacket in tow, “You’ll have to excuse him, he can be a little overzealous when meeting new people. My name’s Yukiko Amagi,” she bowed, “the Ultimate Traditional Dancer. This is Chie Satonaka, she’s the Ultimate Gymnast.”

“Howdy!” the girl in the green jacket waved cheerfully.

“I take it you know him, then?” Minako asked.

“Oh yes, Teddie, Chie and I go way back,” Yukiko explained, “We’ve been practically inseparable since we were all children, even more so since we all got labeled ‘Ultimates’”.

“Putting up with him for that long must’ve been exhausting,” Minako deadpanned, half to herself.

“Hehe, yeah, well, sometimes,” Chie chuckled over Teddie’s sputtering protests, “but he’s not so bad once you get to know him.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” she said, uncomfortably rubbing the spot on her hand where he had kissed it. She felt a tap on her shoulder and started slightly, turning to see a small girl with (obviously dyed) teal hair.

“E-excuse me,” she said, clearly nervous, “Minako, yes? My name is Fuuka Yamagishi, the Ultimate Clairvoyant.”

“Clairvoyant? You mean like you can see the future?” Minako asked, surprised. She had known there were some Ultimates with oddball talents, but she had never expected something as outlandish as fortune telling. Fuuka sighed.

“Yes. I mean, well, only sometimes.”

“Oh. Okay,” Minako wondered what sort of fortune teller would admit to that, but bowed slightly nonetheless. “It’s a pleasure meeting you.”

The next person to approach her needed no introduction. In truth, Minako was left speechless at the sight of seeing a celebrity such as her, even among a group of Ultimates, who were all supposedly the best at what they did. She was just as chipper as she appeared when she was performing, with the same bright smile and auburn hair in twin ponytails.

“Hi, I’m the Ultimate Idol, Rise Kujikawa,” she informed her, as if Minako and everyone else in the room did not already know at a glance her talent and who she was. It surprised her that she didn’t seem particularly full of herself, despite her status and success.

“Hi…” she said, somewhat awkward in the presence of Japan’s greatest pop star. Rise’s smile didn’t falter in the slightest, however. Before she could say anything else, however, a younger boy with a slight build and a cap on his head introduced himself.

“Greetings,” he said, “My name is Naoto Shirogane, the Ultimate Detective,” he paused as if about to say continue, but did not say anything else, leading to an awkward silence between him and Minako that she suspected only she was aware of. Looking around, she noticed three people she hadn’t met yet, having a rather intense conversation away from the main throng of people. Leaving the others to socialize amongst themselves, she approached them.

“...more to a balanced training diet than protein rich foods. You have to follow the entire food pyramid!” a girl in a pink sweater was telling a handsome young man with a red vest, who was shaking his head emphatically.

“Maybe so, but a proper diet needs to be focused first and foremost on building muscle mass, and nothing helps with that more than protein rich foods,” he told her. Minako felt she would have a hard time catching their attention, until she noticed that the third person there had already noticed her. He was tall and brooding, wearing a long, heavy jacket and a hat pulled down low over his eyes.

“Aki,” he said curtly, breaking the boy out of his argument, causing him to look first at him, then at Minako.

“Oh, hey,” he greeted her simply and casually, “Akihiko Sanada, Ultimate Fighter,” his introduction was short and curt. “That’s Shinjiro Aragaki, the Ultimate Animal Breeder,” he motioned towards tall and brooding, who grunted in acknowledgement.

“My name’s Yukari Takeba,” the girl told her, “I’m a Team Manager. Sorry for not noticing you, I was just trying to convince blockhead here the benefits of a well balanced diet.”

“H-hey!” Akihiko objected.

“Well it’s true. Only a blockhead would argue with someone who specializes in bringing out an athlete’s full potential over what’s best for a training diet.” The two began bickering again, and Minako sensed she would not be getting anything else out of them. So far, she had introduced herself to fourteen of the gathered students, which left…

She turned around and found herself face to face with the blonde haired girl wearing the headphones from earlier. Her gaze was cold, and her expression unreadable.

“Oh, hello,” she said, nervously, “Unless I’m mistaken, you’re the last person I have to introduce myself to.”

“Indeed,” there was a pause, and then, “I am the Ultimate Programmer. My name is…” she hesitated, “Aigis.”

“No last name?”

“I… do not remember,” She admitted plainly, “It is possible that whatever prevents me from recalling how I was brought here is also inhibiting other parts of my memory.”

“That seems… reasonable enough,” Minako said, unsure what the proper response to such a statement was. Yu, who had been keeping an eye her progress, chose that moment to speak up.

“Well everyone, it looks like we’ve all gotten to know each other a little,” His voice did not boom, and yet it still commanded great attention, “Now, we should probably start talking about -”

*bing bong bing bong*

“Ahem; system check, one two three, system check, one two,” A saccharine voice crackled through the  PA system, “Good morning, students! As I’m sure you are all aware, today marks the first day of your life at Hope’s Peak Academy, the finest school in the nation for gifted students! As such, it is now time for the commencement ceremony! Please assemble in the gym as quickly as possible. See you soon!” The speakers crackled again and went silent.

Minako shivered. Despite the sweetness of it, the voice had carried an unmistakable undercurrent of… something else. Something threatening. She looked around uneasily, and it seemed a few of the others had picked up on it as well, though everyone was too surprised to comment. Everyone, that is, save Kanji.

“...The hell was that?”

“It appears to have been a summons to the gymnasium,” Mitsuru found her voice next.

“Well then what are we waiting for? Sooner we get there, sooner we might get some answers!” Kanji blustered, and began to stomp his way out of the room.

“Wait,” Yu called after him, stopping the blonde in his tracks “that might not be such a good idea. What if this turns out to be some sort of trap?”

“What? Why would a school set up a trap? Thought they were supposed to look after us or some shit.”

“No,” Shinjiro interjected, “He’s right. This whole situation’s been off from the start.”

“Even so, I doubt it would be dangerous,” Aigis spoke up, “none of us recall how we arrived here, correct? Then it would be safe to assume that prior to waking up, we were all in such a state where harming us would have been a simple matter, were that the intention of whoever is calling us to the gymnasium.”

“She has a point…” Yukari nodded, somewhat reluctantly.

“Well then what are we waiting for?” Kanji shouted, “Let’s get going already!”

Slowly, the students all began to file out of the hall, each moving at their own pace. Eventually, Minako realized she was the only one left. She hurried after the others, following the uneven crowd through the dark hallways to another set of double doors, beyond which was a lobby with a trophy case that housed a number of sports paraphernalia besides just trophies and yet another set of double doors. Steeling herself, Minako opened them and stepped through into the room beyond.

The gym was mostly empty, aside from the students gathered there. Retractable risers were in an up position on either side of the room, and at the far end was a stage with a podium set up, but there was nobody standing behind it.

“The hell? Why’d they call us here if they weren’t gonna show up themselves?” Kanji asked of no one in particular.

“Oh, but I am here,” the same voice from over the loudspeaker rang out from behind the podium, and Minako felt the tension in the room increase tenfold, “And I am very disappointed in you, Mr. Tatsumi. Swearing like that in a school, and in the presence of ladies, no less? Tsk Tsk.”

“Who’s sayin’ that? Come on out!” Kanji demanded.

“If you insist,” the voice responded, and out from behind the podium came a small dog split down the middle, entirely black on one side and white as snow on the other with glowing red eyes. “Greetings everyone! My name is Monokoromaru - or Monokoro, for short - and during your time here at Hope’s Peak, I will be serving as your principal!”

There was silence among the students. Each and every one of them was gazing in various degrees of slack jawed wonder at the strange sight before them. A dog was claiming to be their principal at the most prestigious school in Japan. No one word could be used to describe the utter absurdity of the situation.

“Uh... you’re all seeing this too, right?” Junpei was the first to find his voice.

“Y-yeah,” Yosuke stuttered.

“Alright then,” Junpei pulled his cap down over his eyes and sat down heavily on the floor, “I’m just gonna need to take a minute here.”

“Is this some sort of practical joke?” Mitsuru’s tone was angry and accusatory, “If so, you should reconsider who you’re dealing with.”

“Oh, I know very well who I’m dealing with,” Monokoro told them, “You’re the sixteen Ultimates selected by Hope’s Peak Academy to attend the school and receive a specialized education to hone your already remarkable talents. In short, each and every one of you is a high schooler who is the very best at what you do.”

“Then you also must be aware of who I am.”

“Of course! You’re the daughter and heiress of the Kirijo Group, one of the most wealthy and powerful business conglomerates in the world! Compared to you, your peers might as well be average chumps!” Monokoro chuckled obnoxiously. “But that’s beside the point! Right now, you’re all here for the commencement ceremony! So, without further ado, please allow me as your headmaster to officially extend the warmest of welcomes to all of you! I hope you enjoy your time here at Hope’s Peak, because you’re going to be here for a very, very long time.”

“What do you mean by that?” Akihiko rasped.

“What I mean is… from this day forth, none of you will be allowed to leave this building. Until the day you die, Hope’s Peak Academy is now your entire world.” The body of students muttered agitatedly at that.

“Our entire world? What the hell?”

“We can’t leave? What sort of school keeps their students locked up like that?”

“Bullshit, this has gotta be some sort of joke.”

“Oh! That’s right!” Monokoro lifted a paw and bonked himself on the head with it, “I forgot to mention! There is one way you can leave the school! I call it the graduation clause!”

“Well hurry up and tell us what it is then!” Junpei demanded, prompting a malicious giggle out of the dog.

“Simply put… if you want to leave Hope’s Peak Academy…” He paused for effect and grinned around at the crowd, showing sharp little fangs, “You have to kill one of your classmates.”

“Excuse me, but perhaps I misheard you,” Aigis said, and Minako was nothing short of amazed that the girl was able to find her voice after that last revelation, “I seem to think you just informed us we must kill someone in order to leave the school.”

“Nope!” Monokoro responded chipperly, “You heard absolutely one hundred percent correctly!” Monokoro then stood up on his hind legs, folded his front paws over each other behind his back and began to pace back and forth on the stage, “Allow me to explain further; you don’t just have to kill someone in order to escape, you have to do it without getting caught. Once one of you commits a murder, that person becomes blackened. After a certain amount of time following the murder has passed, a class trial will be held, where everyone will be given time to present arguments on who they think the blackened is, and then vote accordingly. If the blackened is correctly identified, then they will be punished accordingly. Otherwise, everyone else takes the punishment in their place, and the blackened goes free! Besides that, the only rules are what you’ll find detailed in your personalized e-handbooks - which I’ve taken the liberty of slipping into your pockets for you - and you can kill anyone however you can think of! Pretty exciting, right!?”

“Wh-what! No way! How could you possibly expect us to go through with something like that?” Yosuke shouted, voicing the communal thought all the students were currently having.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find some sort of… motivation,” Monokoro giggled again and brought his front paws up to his mouth to partially hide it, “But for now that’s all I have to say, so you’re all free to go do whatever it is you teenage types do these days. Enjoy yourselves, kiddos! It’s going to be a wild ride.”

 

 


	2. Chapter One - The Beginning of School Life and Death - Daily Life, Part One

Monokoro had disappeared quickly, leaving the sixteen students alone with each other in the gym. The air felt like lead and Minako was having trouble breathing as she looked around from one peer to the next, wondering if any of them were actually considering the offer the strange talking dog had given them to murder another person for the sake of their freedom. Each of them, she saw, was doing the same, regarding each other with the same wariness and fear that had no doubt taken over her own face.

“Are you seriously going to tell me any of you are even considering it?” Yu’s voice came from behind her, and she turned to see that his expression, unlike that of the others, was stony and fierce. He walked calmly to the middle of the crowd and turned slowly in a circle, making eye contact with each and every student. Minako shivered when his gaze met hers. “If you are, forget about it right now. No matter what that dog says, there’s got to be some way out of here.”

“He’s right,” Mitsuru said, shaking herself as if to dispel evil thoughts, “There’s absolutely no reason to contemplate murder. Even if we truly are trapped here, both Narukami’s family and my own are extremely powerful, and our abduction would certainly mean rescue attempts.” She smiled smugly, “I’m sure with their forces combined they’ll have us out of here in no time.”

“Precisely,” Yu nodded, “But it still could be a while, so in the meantime we should probably look around and see what exactly we’re dealing with here.”

Minako found it incredible that anyone could be so calm at a time like this. Her own head was in turmoil, a thousand questions swirling around inside her mind all at once. Was this really the Hope’s Peak Academy she had been invited to attend? Wasn’t there supposed to be more than one class of students in the school at any one time? Where were the teachers? Why were the windows so thouroughly blocked off? Most importantly, what the hell was up with that dog?

“Hey Minako, you comin’?” Junpei’s voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she noticed that the gym was almost empty. Junpei himself was by the door to the gym.

“Oh, yes, right,” she jogged lightly to catch up and then fell in stride beside him.

“You doin’ alright there? You look a little pale,” he observed, glancing at her sidelong as they followed just behind the larger crowd of students.

“Well… no, not really,” she admitted.

“Yeah, makes sense. I’m pretty shaken up myself, and something tells me everyone else feels the same, even our two self-appointed leaders.”

“You mean Misturu and Yu?” she asked, and Junpei nodded, “You really think they’re scared too?”

“Hell yeah. Anyone who isn’t is either crazy or stupid, and I don’t get that vibe from either of them.”

“But they seem so calm.”

“Well duh, that’s prolly just part of who they are. If you were a prince or some rich girl expected to lead one of the biggest organizations in the world you’d’ve been raised to keep cool under pressure too. Trust me, if they’re not freaking out on the inside, they’re gonna do it behind closed doors later.”

“I guess that makes sense…” Minako conceded. Junpei nodded, but didn’t say anything else. Through the throng of students in front of them they could see light spilling into the hall through a gate, interrupting the dimness of the passage they were currently in. As she got closer to the entryway, she found herself shielding her eyes from the bright lights after the dimness of the hallway. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw a wide open space with bright white floors. Beyond it was an intersection of a few different hallways, one of which was red and had a number of doors spaced unevenly, like in a hotel, along its length before it turned sharply off to the right. More immediately, there was a door off to her right with a sign bearing a fork, a plate, and a knife over it, which she assumed to be a dining area. There were two other doors, on her left, but they were further away and she couldn’t quite make out the signs.

Everyone had scattered as they passed by the gate into the room, like a funnel working in reverse. Chie, who was dragging Yukiko and Teddie behind her, made a beeline for the dining area. Minako’s stomach rumbled, and she realized that she, too, was quite hungry, and had no idea how long it had been since she had last eaten. She decided to follow them.

The dining hall was simply designed. There was a long rectangular table in the middle as well as several smaller circular ones scattered about the edges of the room. On one side was a glass wall, and on the other side of it was a display with a number of flowers and bushes inside. Chairs were pushed neatly into the tables, giving the place a decidedly normal and domestic feel. On the far side of the room was a counter with a glassless window through which the kitchen could be seen, and just to the right of it was a door leading to the same. Chie had ducked quickly into the kitchen with Yukiko in tow, and could be heard loudly digging through cabinets. Teddie was over by the glass wall, looking longingly at the plants beyond.

“Well, it ain’t much, but I guess it’ll do,” Kanji declared, and Minako looked behind her in time to see him saunter through the doorway, looking around appraisingly. He ignored her and headed straight for the door on the far side of the room, where he froze before rushing into the kitchen, “The hell are you doing?” she heard him shout.

“Uh, looking for something to eat, obviously,” Chie stated patronizingly, nearly matching Kanji’s volume.

“So you decide to tear apart the kitchen?” his voice was outraged.

“Oh come on, I’m not tearing it apart, I’m just doing a little digging is all!”

“Like hell you are! A good chef keeps his workspace neat and orderly, and I don’t know if you noticed but I’m one of the best! I ain’t lettin’ you make a mess in here.”

“What’s the big deal? It’s not like it’s your kitchen.”

“It is now! I figure if we’re gonna be stuck here, then someone’s gotta-” Kanji stopped short, realizing too late the impact of his words. Chie too seemed to be at a loss, and Minako cautiously approached the kitchen then with the feeling that whatever was next said would be much quieter. Teddie seemed to have the same idea. The two of them reached the door at about the same time, and poked their heads around the frame in unison. “Shit,” he said, looking genuinely apologetic, “Look, I’m real sorry, I just meant-”

“No, it’s fine,” Chie nodded dumbly, mouth slightly agape “you’re right. I’ll get out of your way,” she moved, pushing numbly past Kanji, and Minako and Teddie quickly vacated the area, “C’mon Yukiko, let’s go.”

The two girls didn’t seem to notice their audience as they passed by them. Kanji appeared in the doorway, wanting to say something to try and make up for the grim reminder he had given them but very obviously unsure what to say. Teddie looked from Kanji to the girls, shifting his weight from foot to foot, and eventually decided on following his friends, shouting a ‘hey, wait up!’ after them, which left Minako sharing an awkward silence with the chef. She left quickly, appetite forgotten.

Back outside the dining area, she noticed the wide room was much emptier than before. Her hunger momentarily forgotten, Minako decide to look around the red hallway. As she began to pass by the doors, she noticed that each had the name of one of the students and a small, crude portraitof that student on a plate affixed to the middle of them. She immediately began to look for hers, and found it quickly, in between Yu’s and Fuuka’s. She tried the handle only to find it locked.

“Having trouble, Minako?” Minako started and turned around, seeing Rise smiling at her mischievously.

“Oh, yeah. My door’s locked, so I can’t get in,” she explained. Rise giggled.

“That’s easy, just check your pockets,” she told her. Minako did, and sure enough, there was a key attached to a small tag that bore her name on it. While retrieving it she felt something else inside the same pocket, and shifted the key to her other hand so she could pull out a small tablet with a touchscreen. At her look of consternation, Rise explained, “That’s the e-handbook Monokoro was talking about. I’d recommend checking it when you get a moment,” she said, then turned and walked off.

There wasn’t much to the bedroom. A low shelf, a desk, a table, a potted plant, a bathroom, a clock and a bed were the only things she could see, and while it seemed cozy enough the presence of more thick metal sheets on one of the walls dispelled the illusion. She plopped down on the bed, falling backwards until she was staring up at the ceiling, her legs hanging over the edge. She briefly had the urge to let her eyelids drop and drift off before she remembered she was still holding the e-handbook in her hand. She held it up above her face and booted it up.

It booted up with what she could recognize as the Hope’s Peak Crest, though it was altered, presumably to fit Monokoro’s twisted preference, and her name under it. It then went to a menu with a small list of options. “Map”, “Evidence”, “Report Card”,“Regulations”, and “Options”. The evidence option was blacked out, and she shuddered to think that it was there in the event of a murder. She ignored it for the moment and looked at the map, which showed only the first floor of the building, each room marked with a symbol indicating what it was for.

Next she selected the report card option. A list of names popped up, including her own, which she selected. It led her to a profile with a portrait of her, as well as statistics on her height, weight, blood type, birthday, Ultimate Talent, and, she noted with no small amount of irritation, chest measurement. She exited back to the main menu, deciding not to snoop on any of her fellow students, and then selected regulations. Numbered rules appeared on her screen, one at a time.

  1. Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

  2. "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

  3. Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.

  4. With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.

  5. Violence against headmaster Monokoromaru is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

  6. Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

  7. Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.

  8. If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

  9. If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.

  10. Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.




 

Minako’s attention was caught by one rule in particular. ‘Destruction of surveillance cameras,’ it said. She did not remember seeing anything like that, and out of curiosity she sat up, scanning her dorm. Sure enough, in both of the two corners farthest from the door were ceiling mounted cameras observing the room. She shuddered, thinking of that strange dog - or rather, whoever was controlling him - watching them every second of the day. Before she could dwell on it too much, however, her eyelids drooped again, and she quickly drifted off to sleep, exhausted by the events of the morning.

\-------------------

Minako was roused by the sound of knocking. Groggily, she sat up, looking bleary eyed around the room. The clock on the wall told her it was late in the day, and that she had been asleep for several hours. The knocking became more insistent, so she grabbed the e-handbook from where it had slipped out of her hand on the bed, stowed it in her pocket, and walked over to the room’s entrance, opening it to see Junpei.

“Hey, Minako,” he raised a hand in greeting, “been lookin’ for ya. Yu and Mitsuru are gathering everyone in the dining hall.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” she told him, and he left without her. She went back into her room to grab her key off the table where she had left it, then followed after him.

“Ah, Arisato, excellent,” Mitsuru nodded matter of factly when she saw her come in, “now we may begin.”

“Begin what, exactly?” Yosuke demanded, “What’d you bring us all here for?”

“Narukami and I felt it prudent to hold some sort of meeting, so that we may discuss our plans for the foreseeable future.”

“Why would we need plans?” Akihiko asked, “I thought you said your families would have us out of here in no time?”

“And while that is undoubtedly true,” Mitsuru folded her arms casually, a gesture which gave the girl an air of even greater authority, “it would still be wise to be organized in the interim. After all, I’m sure none of you have forgotten the offer given to us by Monokoromaru.”

“What’s your point?” Shinjiro growled, clearly impatient.

“My point,” Mitsuru replied, her gaze cold, “is that the more closely we work together, the less likely it is one of us will commit murder.”

“Oh geeze, she actually said it,” Yosuke exclaimed, while everyone else was stunned into silence for the umpteenth time that day. The expressions the students had ranged from renewed shock to emptiness, as if hearing the possibility of murder within the group for the first time.

“And I suppose you’re the one who’s going to keep us in line and make sure that doesn’t happen, then?” Shinjiro asked mockingly. The redhead pretended not to notice his tone.

“Given my background, I feel it fitting that I should lead, yes. Of course I don’t expect to be trusted completely, and to that end a co-leader should be chosen. For this position, I nominate Narukami, under similar reasoning.”

“Hey, hold on a second!” Yukari interjected, shifting the attention of the room onto her, “Don’t we get a say in all this? What if we don’t want to just be led by you? Shouldn’t we put this to a vote?”

“No, I think she’s got the right idea,” Minako spoke up, surprising herself, “Unless you have an idea of someone who’d be better qualified to lead, of course, but I certainly don’t, in which case we don’t really need a vote,” there was no rebuttal from anyone.

“Thank you, Arisato. Now then, if there are no objections, we may proceed to the next-” the heiress cut herself off, realizing something. “Say, Arisato… I don’t believe you’ve shared your Ultimate talent with us.”

“Oh,” Minako said, thinking back and realizing she was right, “I guess I haven’t.”

“So what is it, then?”

“It’s… well, in truth it’s not much of a talent, but…” Minako found herself fiddling her fingers around each other and stopped herself, folding her hands over each other in front of her skirt, “The acceptance letter I got from Hope’s Peak granted me the title “Ultimate Lucky Student.”

She heard confusion in the crowd. Mutterings of “Ultimate Lucky Student? What’s that supposed to mean?” and “The hell kind of talent is luck?” She noticed some of the others, most notably Mitsuru, looking at her expectantly, and she waited for the excitement to die down before continuing.

“I was chosen to attend the school by lottery. Apparently, every year, Hope’s Peak Academy enters the names of every student in the country of eligible age into a drawing and picks one to attend the school with those personally scouted by the school under the title of “Ultimate Lucky Student”, and... I got picked.”

“Whoah whoah whoah, hold on,” Yosuke said, holding up his hands as if to push back the words coming out of her mouth, “Let me get this straight. You’re saying that, unlike the rest of us, you don’t actually have a talent, and you were chosen completely at random to come to the most prestigious school in the nation. Is that about it?” Yosuke scoffed, “That’s the second most ridiculous thing I’ve heard today.”

“I don’t fully understand it myself,” she admitted, “From what I read in the letter, neither did the admissions board. They claimed that Luck was some sort of special talent that they were researching or something,” she looked down, away from the gazes of the Ultimates.

“Well, that’s definitely some luck you got, ending up in a situation like this,” Yosuke chuckled, earning sharp glares from the others, “Wh-what? It was just a joke.”

“In any event, dwelling on the matter of Arisato’s so called talent will not help us solve anything,” Mitsuru continued, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, “Whether she does or does not belong here is not up to us to decide, so we’ll just have to trust in the judgement of the Academy Board. In the meantime, there remains the matter of our imprisonment,” she cleared her throat, “Now then, as Narukami has voiced before, it is unlikely that there truly is no way out of the building. As such, starting tomorrow, we will devote our time to searching the school more thoroughly. In the meantime, I expect you all to get some rest and do whatever necessary to keep yourselves healthy. Barring any objections, we will all meet here tomorrow at eight a.m. for a communal breakfast. That is all.”

Almost as soon as Mitsuru had finished speaking, Minako felt fatigue invade her mind and body. While still maintaining the presence of mind to realize she didn’t feel up to talking to anybody at the moment, she half-walked half-shuffled her way back to her room as quickly as she could. Having avoided unwanted attention, she stumbled over to her bed and lay down without bothering to look for a change of clothes and fell into dreamless slumber.

\-------------------

Minako woke up at exactly seven in the morning the next day. She knew this because her alarm was a pre-recorded message of Monokoromaru announcing that it was morning, and encouraging them all to greet the day with everything they had. Her stomach felt painfully empty, and it took her a moment to remember why; she had never actually gotten anything to eat yesterday. Realizing this, she got out of bed, briefly considered looking for a change of clothes and, remembering the cameras in her room, decided against it, at least for the moment. Though she knew the others were not due at the cafeteria for another hour - and that, indeed, some of them would no doubt sleep until they were supposed to meet up - she decided to visit it anyway, so intense was her hunger.

The dining hall greeted her with a wondrous aroma and the sounds of someone busily cooking. Through the window over the counter, she saw Kanji working away in the kitchen, his back to her. She approached the doorway to the work area and knocked gently against the frame. Kanji looked over his shoulder at the sound, surprised to see her.

“Oh, hey. Didn’t figure anyone else’d be up at this hour,” he said, “What’re you doin’ here? Breakfast doesn’t start till eight.”

“Well, um, I was hoping to find something to eat. I ah… didn’t exactly have anything yesterday,” she confessed, and Kanji stared at her, horrified.

“You serious? Damn,” he reached into a large basket nearby and tossed the apple he retrieved to her, “Here, eat this.”

“Thanks,” she said, and wiped it off with a sleeve before she bit into it, sweet and tart juice filling her mouth. She watched the boy work while she ate; it was a truly impressive sight, to see him juggle the preparation of several different dishes at once. When she was almost done, she attempted to strike up conversation. “So what are you doing up so early?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” He said, not taking his eyes off the numerous tasks in front of him, “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d make breakfast for everyone.”

“Oh,” she said, “right.” She finished her apple and then asked “Do you… want any help?”

“Sure,” he nodded, still not looking at her, “I ain’t picky ‘bout who works in my kitchen, so long as they don’t start throwin’ shit around like that Chie girl was yesterday,” he stopped, remembering what he had said during the incident and swore under his breath. Minako wasn’t certain how to respond to that, so she said nothing, only joined him in his preparations. Eventually, though, Kanji spoke up again.

“So, tell me about this talent of yours.”

“Well, there’s not much to tell,” she told him while she peeled an orange, “Not that I didn’t already say yesterday, anyway. I’m just a normal girl who got roped into something a lot bigger than her.”

“Well, if you ask me,” he began, “Luck ain’t the strangest talent someone here has. I mean, come on, a psychic who can only see the future “sometimes”? What’s up with that?” Minako laughed, despite herself.

“I guess that’s true, but you probably shouldn’t say stuff like that. Fuuka seems nice.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry,” he paused thoughtfully, “I should probably apologize to Chie too, huh? For freaking her out yesterday, I mean.”

“I would,” she nodded.

“Yeah. Dammit, I’m shit at apologies,” he turned to her, another thought crossing his mind, “Think you could help me out?”

“Well, if you’re no good at talking to girls,” she teased, getting an indignant splutter out of the chef, “I’d suggest getting her something to make up for it, but I don’t know what she likes or where’d you’d get something like that in a place like this.”

“Wouldn’t that be more something I’d do if I liked her?”

“Not necessarily. Everyone likes getting gifts, and it doesn’t even have to be something big, could just be like a CD or something.”

“A CD, huh?” Kanji was mixing a bowl of muffin batter thoughtfully, “Alright, so say I was gonna get a CD for you. What would I pick?”

“I dunno, probably just some Roughed Up Fingers or something,” she told him, saying the first band to come to mind.

“Roughed Up Fingers? Seriously?”

“Yeah… what’s wrong with that?”

“Oh, nothing,” he said hastily, “Just… their demographic’s a bit younger’n us, s’all.”

“I guess so. I have a younger brother though, which helps keep me current on what the younger kids like.”

“No kiddin’? What’s his name?”

“Ryoji.”

“That’s a good name,” Kanji nodded in approval without really meaning to, “Strong name. Your parents must want him to succeed in life.”

“I think every parent wants their children to succeed,” she pointed out, “but they didn’t pick it out. He’s adopted, not that that really matters much,” she shrugged and went back to peeling potatoes. “What about you? Any siblings?”

“Nah, I’m an only child. Gets kinda lonely sometimes, since it’s just me and my mom in her textile shop, but nothing to be done about that.”

“Your mom runs a textiles shop?” She asked incredulously, taking care to skirt around the fact that he had just revealed his lack of a father, “How’d you get into cooking with a background like that?”

“Eh, it was mostly out of necessity at first,” his tone was very casual, like he was used to telling this story, “Even before my dad died I’d always been into that sort of thing, and afterwards I had to take up a lot of responsibility around the house, since my mom was so busy working the shop most of the time. I figured out pretty quickly that I actually really enjoyed making food, so I started to experiment, and pretty much no matter what I did it turned out great,” he chuckled, “Before I knew it everyone in town was showing up to get a taste of my cooking, thanks to my mom telling everyone she knew about it.”

“After a while people started suggesting I should sell what I was making, so I did, and somehow I got enough money to start a restaurant, which I did, and then next thing I knew I was being scouted by Hope’s Peak. So, here I am.”

“Wow,” Minako said, genuinely impressed, “That’s quite a story. Guess you really are an Ultimate.”

“I guess. Don’t let all that fool you though,” he said, pointing a potato peeler at her, “I picked up a few things from my mom too. I ain’t such a bad tailor, if you can believe it.”

“I’ll have to talk you into making me something to wear sometime, then,” she grinned, getting a chuckle out of Kanji.

“Yeah, no problem,” the conversation appeared to have run out of steam at that point, until Kanji asked a question out of the blue, “So what’s your take on that Yu guy?”

“He seems nice enough,” Minako shrugged, “a bit quiet though, considering he’s supposed to be one of our leaders. I kinda get the impression maybe Mitsuru volunteered him, rather than him stepping up on his own.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Still, it’s pretty cool, meeting royalty, even like this.”

“Yeah,” Minako admitted, and the two of them allowed the conversation to lull again. This time, however, they were comfortable with the absence of words. It was still not silent, of course; the scraping of whisks against bowls as Minako scrambled eggs or the sizzle of various things cooking filled the kitchen. Eventually other students began to arrive. Mitsuru was the first, and when she walked through the door Minako looked up at the clock high on the wall in confusion, sure that so much time couldn’t have passed already. She was partially right; it was ten minutes until eight, meaning Mitsuru had showed up early, but even so it was later than she thought. If the redhead was surprised to see them, she didn’t show it, though she did give them a small smile and a nod of approval before sitting down at the head of the long table.

Chie was next, dragging a half asleep Yukiko behind her, followed by Yu, Akihiko and Yukari (still arguing, Minako noted), then Rise. Naoto arrived precisely at eight, and Aigis was not far behind. Yosuke, Teddie, and Fuuka all arrived at the same time, and then Junpei. Shinjiro arrived last, slouching in a full fifteen minutes after the scheduled meeting time to a room full of friendly chatter. Once he arrived, Kanji and Minako started laying the various dishes they had prepared on the long table, which everyone was seated around, and the students started digging in.

In addition to a large plate piled high with rice (which required the combined efforts of Minako and Kanji to carry in), there were hash browns, freshly squeezed orange juice, bacon, pancakes, waffles, eggs (both scrambled and fried), assorted fruits, and several kinds of muffins.

“Oh my god, Kanji,” Rise said, swallowing another mouthful of her third muffin, “This is incredible! You really exceeded my expectations here!”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t all me,” he grinned modestly, rubbing the back of his neck, “Minako here makes an excellent assistant, as it turns out!” He clapped his hand on her shoulder.

“Really?” Rise’s eyes widened, shifting her gaze between the two of them, “Wow, Minako, I’m impressed. Kanji doesn’t seem like the type to give out compliments like that to just anyone.”

Once they had brought out everything they had made, the pair took seats at different spots at the table. Kanji took a seat at the end, next to Yu, and Minako was waved over by Junpei to sit between him and Fuuka. They had barely sat down when Mitsuru stood up and cleared her throat.

“Good morning, everyone. I trust you are all eager, or at the very least, curious, to begin the discussion I have been planning for this morning. Before we do, however, I would like to take a moment to thank Tastumi and Arisato for their hard work this morning preparing the meal you are all enjoying.”

“Yes yes, well done Kanji!” A sickeningly sweet voice interrupted the breakfast, which caused several people to jump. “Though I must say, I am disappointed in you. You had a golden opportunity to poison everyone here, and you blew it!” Several people went bug eyed, and Yosuke even spat out a mouthful of scrambled eggs (which looked disgusting coming back out) with a ‘what the hell?’, in turn eliciting a ‘dude I worked hard on that!’ from Kanji. As the two began bickering, Monokoro giggled.

“What do you want?” Yu spat, his tone ice.

“Ah- Now, now, that is no way to speak to your headmaster, young man,” the dog waggled a paw at him “The proper way to address me would be something more along the lines of ‘Mr. Monokoro’ or ‘Sensei’!”

“Answer his question,” Mitsuru ordered.

“Sigh, youths these days,” Monokoro actually said the word sigh and shook his head, eyes downcast, “Very well. I’m simply here to sit in on your conversation. I wanna hear all the juicy details of your escape plan! I promise I’ll be a good boy and won’t interrupt! You won’t even know I’m here.”

“You have cameras installed everywhere, watch us through those,” Yu told him. Koromaru had by that point stopped acknowledging him, and was instead busying himself trying to climb on top of one of the smaller circular tables using a chair.

“There’s something seriously wrong with whoever decided to use a dog as their mouthpiece for this whole thing,” Shinjiro grumbled.

“Dude, that’s the part of all this you take issue with?” Junpei asked, and Shinji shot him an evil look, “A-anyway,” he gulped, directing his attention now to Mitsuru “What were you saying?”

“Now, as you are all aware, certain parties,” she didn’t even glance in Monokoro’s direction, “claim that we are trapped within this school. I, naturally, find this hard to believe, so until rescue comes for us, I see few ways to better spend our time than to seek to prove our captor wrong. Now, to avoid any… incidents of violence, we will be pairing up into groups of four, to make certain nobody is alone. Safety in numbers, as they say,” she paused, looking from student to student to make sure there were no objections to her plan,

“Very well. The groups will be as follows; Group One will consist of myself, Sanada, Takeba and Aigis. Group Two will be Arisato, Iori, Yamagishi and Starr. Group Three will be Aragaki, Amagi,  Satonaka and Shirogane, which leaves Narukami, Tatsumi, Kujikawa and Hanamura as Group Four. Groups may leave at their leisure as each member finishes with their breakfast. We will meet back here at five p.m. for dinner and to share our findings. Carry on.”

“Alright, looks like you and I are gonna be exploring together!” Junpei turned to Minako immediately, extending an upward turned palm in her direction. She smiled at the athlete’s enthusiasm and indulged him with a quiet low five. The two of them bantered on throughout the rest of breakfast, and occasionally Fuuka would say something too, but Minako noticed that the general buzz of the room was more subdued than before. She looked around and saw why; Monokoromaru was still there, sitting on the edge of one of the tables, swinging his hind legs back and forth in a way that would have been cute under different circumstances. He caught her looking and grinned at her, a mean and terrifying gesture, and she quickly looked away, shaken.

Minako’s group was the first to leave. They walked out of the dining hall in a slightly staggered line, Junpei shoving a couple of muffins into his pockets for later.

“You’re seriously gonna keep food in your pants?” Minako asked him incredulously.

“Sure, why not?” he replied, taking a bite of one he hadn’t stored.

“Because it’s unsanitary,” she told him, to which he just shrugged and took another bite.

“Teddie, would you mind not walking so close to me?” Fuuka asked.

“Ah, but I would be remiss if I were to spend a second not at your side, Miss Fuuka,” the model responded, in a voice laced with honey. Minako shivered in disgust.

“You could be by my side from slightly farther away…” Fuuka muttered in annoyance, but it did nothing to deter him.

“Hey, Teddie, come on dude, give her some space,” Junpei told him.

“Junpei! I must say, I am surprised! I had you down as a fellow lady’s man,” he replied in mock offense, and Minako wondered to herself how he managed to talk like that without feeling embarrassed.

“I mean, sure, but now’s not really the time, man,” the athlete scolded the other boy, who failed entirely to look like he had just been reprimanded. Fuuka muttered a half-hearted thanks before the group fell into an awkward silence, walking down the same dim hallway as yesterday.

“So…” Minako began, pushing Teddie out of the way and falling in line beside Fuuka, “You mentioned yesterday you could only see the future sometimes. What’d you mean by that?” The smaller girl perked up almost instantly.

“Well, fortune telling’s not a very exact science, and there’s a lot more to it than people realize. For example, tarot readings alone delve heavily into psychology and the ways we’re constantly subconsciously affecting the world around us. Each card in the major arcana represents a different facet of the human psyche, as well as a stage in life. Because of how complex human psychology is, there’s a lot of room for interpretation in a reading, and depending on the skill of the person giving the reading those interpretations can be inaccurate. And that’s just tarot! With palmistry -”

Minako nodded along to the clairvoyant’s animated lecture, even though some of it went way over her head. She couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm and knowledge Fuuka displayed regarding what she did. As they went around the school, searching each room as they came upon the door, Minako found herself getting more and more absorbed into the topic, asking frequent questions about whatever she didn’t understand or thought sounded interesting. It wasn’t until they had thoroughly searched two classes and an AV room (neither of which provided any real insight into their situation) that Fuuka began to wind down her explanation.

“-so, in short, most fortune tellers only have a success rate of maybe thirty percent, although - and I don’t mean to tout my own horn - mine is closer to forty five,” She paused for breath, having worn herself out slightly from all the talking, “I ah, hope that answers your question.”

“I would hope so too!” Junpei said (he had been listening more passively the entire time), exhaling forcefully, “I had no idea there was so much to fortune telling. I always just figured you stared into a crystal ball and made shit up,” at Fuuka’s scowl he threw his hands up defensively, “Hey, no offense,” Fuuka harrumphed but seemed to accept the apology, half-hearted as it was, “Man, you really take your talent seriously. I thought all the other Ultimates would be like me.”

“What do you mean by that?” Minako asked.

“Well, y’know,” he shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, then grimaced and took them out, presumably because he felt the muffins he had put there earlier, “kinda lazy. I mean, baseball always came easy to me, so I didn’t have to work at it much, which is fine by me, ‘cause I never did like working much. I thought everyone else would be the same way.”

“You really thought a body this good comes without work?” Teddie said, flipping his hair in an attempt to be charming. Minako shivered in disgust.

“...Ignoring that, it’s still better than me,” Minako said, “I didn’t even know I had a talent until a few months ago.”

“But you still have a talent,” Fuuka reassured her, “Hope’s Peak doesn’t accept anyone who isn’t above average, after all, so if they think luck is worth looking into, there has to be something to it. Besides,” she smiled slightly, “It sort of puts you and I in the same boat. If they weren’t trying to find out more about how our respective talents worked, neither of us would be here.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t particularly want to be here, all things considered.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Minako waved a hand vaguely, “you didn’t mean anything by it.”

The four of them continued their search, working their way through the hallway to find a school store of sorts, which had nothing of use in it, back through the room Minako had met everyone in, and then to a nurse’s office. When they arrived in the gym, they found Yu’s group. Yosuke had climbed his way to the top of the risers and was examining the metal plates covering the higher part of the wall, nodding to himself. Yu and Rise were walking around the gym in circles, Rise chattering excitedly and barely giving him time to respond. Kanji leaned against the wall just to the right of the door, and Minako went over to him.

“Why aren’t you helping look for a way out?” She asked him.

“Don’t see the point,” Kanji shrugged.

“Do you not want to get out of here?”

“‘Course I do. But if Yu’s family and the Kirijo group are just gonna get us out either way, what’s the point of trying to escape ourselves, y’know?”

“I guess,” she said. Though she didn’t agree, she leaned against the wall next to him, “So, has your group found anything interesting?”

“Not really. ‘Course, we just started looking, and as you can see we ain’t tryin’ that hard. You?”

“Nothing,” Minako shook her head, “Well, nothing that might help us get out of here, anyway. There’s an AV room down the hall with a bunch of technical stuff in it, so we might be able to get Yosuke to rig some kind of something up, but I doubt anything that’d be all that useful. It all looked like junk to me.”

“Well, you never know. I say once he finishes monkeying around up there you tell him. He’ll probably be excited to have something to work with.”

“You really think so?”

“Hey you weren’t here when he and Rise were fighting for Yu’s attention. Guy wouldn’t shut up about machines.”

“Oh? And I suppose you were above all that, Mister “it’s pretty cool meeting royalty”?” Minako teased, getting a blush out of the large young man.

“H-hey, shut up. I’m just playin’ it cool, is all.”

“Oh, sure, sure,” she smirked, noticing that the prince was on his way over to the two of them, “well, looks like that might be paying off after all.”

“Ah, hello Arisato,” Yu greeted her with a small smile, “I didn’t expect to see you here, I thought your group would still be searching the other rooms on the hallway.”

“We decided to shake things up a bit once we got to the square-y space in the middle,” she shrugged, “though I have to say, I am surprised you’re the first of the other groups we’ve seen.”

“Kirjo’s and Shirogane’s groups decided to tackle the living area. I guess they figured the eight of us could handle the classrooms,” he sighed before he continued, “Though it looks like she was wrong about that,” He said, in reference to the fact that none of the others seemed to be looking for a way out either, “But oh well. She’s said it herself, rescue will come in no time at all, so I don’t know why she’s having us bother with all this in the first place.”

“You’re awfully laid back for someone who’s supposed to be one of our co-leaders,” She noted wryly.

“I guess so. To tell you the truth Kirijo kind of volunteered me for the position. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with leading people, but I don’t see that there’s much of a need to at the moment.”

“Ah, hey, what was that for?” Kanji shouted in response to the knowing nudge Minako had given him in the ribs, which she meant to be discrete.

“Oh, sorry,” she said, trying to play it off as an accident, to the confusion of Yu and Kanji.

“Anyway,” Rise interjected, “has your group found anything?”

“Not really. I was just telling Kanji we found a few knick-knacks in the AV Room, but nothing that might help us.”

“Oh, well, that’s a shame,” the idol responded, “But I can’t say I’m surprised. Monkoro seemed pretty - Um.... what is Teddie doing with Fuuka?”

Minako followed Rise’s gaze to a corner of the gym, where Teddie was very clearly making another pass at Fuuka. Growling low enough that the others couldn’t hear, she marched over and grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar, starting to drag him away from the other girl.

“Oh my! Miss Minako is laying her hands on me to pull me away from another girl! Could it be that she’s jealous?” Teddie wondered aloud. Minako shivered in disgust and let go, allowing Teddie to fall to the floor with a low thump, “What a lovely sight,” he said dreamily, and while she at first thought he had hit his head a bit too hard and was maybe seeing stars, she quickly realized he was just using his new position on the ground to look up her skirt. She gave a short shriek of indignation and stomped off to join the others again. Fuuka had done the same.

“I swear, that boy needs a lesson in some manners,” Minako grumbled.

“Definitely,” Fuuka agreed darkly while Rise scowled and nodded in sympathy.

\-------------------

The rest of the day passed without incident. At around three the two groups left the gym together, having spent much of their time socializing with each other, and explored the rest of the hallway - which consisted of two more classrooms, a pair of small bathrooms, and an infirmary. When they were almost done with the latter, Kanji looked up at the clock and, in response to how late it had gotten without him realizing, suddenly shouted a short string of expletives and took off in the direction of the kitchen. The others shrugged, and returned to the search, following him not long after. They arrived back in the dining hall to find the chef staring blankly at a table full of food.

“I- wha- who made this?” he asked of nobody in particular.

“I did, bonehead!” Monokoromaru jumped out from behind a particularly large pile of food on the table, drawing shouts of surprise from everyone gathered, “Oh! I’m sorry, did I scare you? Good!” He cackled, then produced a raw steak out of seemingly nowhere and began gnawing on it, “I was going to let Kanji do it,” he told them, in between bouts of attacking the slab of meat, “but then I saw that he was nowhere to be found, so rather than let him disappoint everyone again I decided to take matters into my own paws. You should be thankful, you know! A less thoughtful headmaster would’ve just let you starve!”

“What do you mean ‘again’?” Kanji demanded.

“I mean that pathetic display this morning where you absolutely failed to kill anyone despite having the perfect opportunity! I’ve never been more disappointed in my life, you slacker!”

“Wh-what? You’re still on about that?” Kanji took a step back in shock.

“Of course I am!” Monokoro’s tone was growing steadily more irate with each passing second, “I said I wanted you all to start killing each other and I meant it! And when someone lets a golden opportunity for homicide like that slip by, oooh, it just boils my oil!”

“Dude, chill,” Yosuke said, apparently not fully grasping the situation.

“I will not ‘chill’! I -” Monokoro stopped and took a moment to compose himself before taking another bite of his raw meat, “No, no, you’re right. It would be most unbecoming of a refined gentleman such as myself to lose his cool in front of a bunch of high school students. Well anyway, I made the meal, Kanji’s a loser, that’s all I had to say. Enjoy the food, kiddos!”

Monokoro hopped down from the table and waddled out of the dining area on his two hind legs. During the short conversation, the other two groups had filtered into the cafeteria. Some of them looked quite pleased to be presented once again with an impressive spread for mealtime, while others looked displeased that it was Monokoro and not Kanji who had prepared it for them. Once the dog had left, Akihiko moved towards the table.

“Wait,” Mitsuru said, stopping the fighter in his tracks, “If Monokoromaru truly did prepare this food for us, it could be a trick or a trap of some sort, especially in light of all his talk of poison.”

“I didn’t poison it,” Monokoro said, sticking his head around the door to the dining hall.

“And I suppose we’re supposed to take your word on that?” Naoto asked, though it was really more a statement than a question.

“Of course! Your headmaster would never go so far as to harm one of you himself, barring a violation of school regulations. I would never want to deprive any of you of the sublime joy of killing!” He told them, before disappearing again.

“Logically, what he just told us is in keeping with his previous statements,” Aigis pointed out, “It would make little sense for him to order us to kill each other and then murder us himself. I believe this food should be -”

But Akihiko was not listening, and was already taking large bites of some sort of unidentifiable meat. Everyone watched with bated breath for several minutes, and when he did not keel over and assured them that the food was, in fact, actually pretty good, they breathed a collective sigh of relief and took seats of their own around the table.

“...This stuff tastes awful,” Kanji eventually remarked, once he had had time to process the food presented before him.

“Really?” Minako asked, voice coming out muffled through a mouthful of seasoned bread, “Tashtes alright to me”

“Nah, the flavor’s all wrong,” he told her, “the ingredient proportions are out of balance and there’s way too much salt on… everything,” he grimaced, “even the rice…”

“Really?” She grabbed a bowl of rice and experimentally took a mouthful. Sure enough it was salty. “Ugh,” she said, after forcing herself to swallow it, “Wow. How do you even mess up rice like that?”

“Guess just ‘cause something isn’t poisoned doesn’t mean it’s gonna be good,” Chie interjected from the other side of Kanji, “I never thought I’d see the day when I had some meat I didn’t enjoy, and yet…” Yukiko snorted next to her.

“Yeah, I can’t eat this,” the chef said, pushing his food away and scooching out from the table, “I think I’m gonna go get some rest. See you all tomorrow,” as he was on his way out the door, Mitsuru called out to him.

“Tatsumi, where are you going?”

“Back to my room,” He told her, “This food’s ruining my appetite.”

“Please wait until we have all shared our findings regarding the state of the school.”

“Oh. Sure, okay,” He said, moving back to his seat at the table. No sooner had he sat down than Minako noticed Monokoro coming out of the kitchen - which, incidentally, she had never noticed him enter - carrying another slab of raw meat. As he sucked on it he made his way to one of the small circular tables again and assumed the same position he had taken up that morning.

“Now then, I believe we are all ready to begin,” Mitsuru continued, ignoring the intrusion, “I’d like to ask groups two and four to share their findings first.”

Minako looked around at the people she had spent the majority of the day with, saw that none of them were taking any initiative in the matter, and decided to take it herself.

“Well, we didn’t find much of anything, really,” she explained, “There’s a nurse’s office in case anyone gets sick or hurt, and an AV room with a bunch of busted electronics in it, but beyond that nothing interesting. We couldn’t go any further than the first floor, either, because the stairs are blocked off and we couldn’t figure out how to open the grating.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Monokoro told them, “just murder someone and I’ll open up the second floor for ya! Simple as that,” everyone did their best to ignore him.

“Very well. My own group had similar results. Though there are sufficient necessities to sustain our group for quite some time, it would appear we are well and truly trapped after all.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Geeze, you kids don’t listen to anything anyone says these days, no matter how much better than you they know,” Monokoro ranted, stomping his way over to the long table and wriggling onto it, “You’re stuck here! Trapped! Imprisoned! Incarcerated! Jailed! Apprehended! And the only way that’s going to change is if you kill one of your classmates!”

“But,” he sighed, looking about as disappointed as he could, “I can see you aren’t going to do that on your own, so I guess I’m just going to have to give a little more incentive. I don’t have anything yet, but give me a couple days and I’ll have you at each other’s throats in no time! And if not, I’ll just do this!” He kicked a plate of food off the table via the end where no one was sitting, “And this! And that! And then a little more of this!” He punctuated each exclamation with another kick, each one making even more of a mess. He raged for a while, and by the end he was panting for simulated breath. All the students had long since vacated the area around the table, most of them hugging the walls to avoid the flying food.

“Now then,” Monokoro began again, calmly, “Moving forward, please bear in mind the rules of the academy, and do your best to to do your worst!” He dropped down to all fours and trotted towards the door once more, “Oh, and by the way,” he said, turning back to all of them and gesturing to the mess he had made, “I expect all of you to clean this up.”

 

 


	3. Chapter One - The Beginning of School Life and Death - Part 2

_*bing-bong bing-bong*_

“Goooooood morning everyone! It’s going to be another bee-yutiful day here in Hope’s Peak Academy, so let’s be sure to all do our very best!”

“That’s already getting obnoxious,” Minako thought as the PA system clicked off. She was thankful that this time, at least, the announcement had not served as her alarm. She wasn’t sure how long she had been awake before the message played, just that the grit of tiredness filled her eyes. She had not gotten nearly enough rest; despite that, she couldn’t fall back asleep. Even worse, she had woken up hungry again, but had decided not to visit the kitchen until the announcement played. Now that it had she groaned and rolled out of bed, letting herself fall to the carpet below with a soft thud, landing facedown against the floor with another low sound of annoyance. Slowly, she got up and walked, zombie-like, to the kitchen, where she found Kanji preparing another meal.

“Minako,” he said, surprise evident in his voice, “what are you doing here so early again? Don’t tell me you forgot to eat again.”

“No, I ate dinner yesterday,” she told him, “You were there, remember?”

“Oh. Right,” he responded, somewhat sheepishly.

“But anyway, I figured I’d stop by and see if you might want help again. I actually kinda enjoyed it yesterday, so…” she trailed off.

“Oh, sure, always good to have a helping-” he paused, a look of consternation on his face, and sniffed curiously at the air a couple of times, “...The hell’s that smell?”

“What smell?”

“...When’s the last time you showered?” He asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Kanji!” she exclaimed indignantly, ready to tell him off for asking such a rude question, and of a girl, no less, then stopped, a horrific realization dawning upon her. She hadn’t showered since she had arrived at Hope’s Peak, which meant she had gone two days without bathing. “Uh, well… hehe,” she gave an embarrassed laugh. Kanji shook his head.

“Go wash up,” he told her, turning back to his cooking, “I can handle everything in here.”

“Okay,” she turned to go and added, “Hey, could you not mention this to anyone else? It just slipped my mind in all the excitement of the last couple days, is all, and I’d rather people not think I’m…” she wasn’t quite sure how to finish the sentence.

“Yeah, sure thing,” he said, not bothering to look at her. She hurried back to her room, thankful that it was still so early.

Based on her experiences thus far inside the school, Minako had expected the water to be freezing. Surprisingly enough, it was actually pleasant, with a full and proper range of temperatures to choose from. Additionally, she found a decent selection of reasonably high end hygiene products. By the time she was done, she felt more refreshed and energetic than she had since she arrived. Forcing the thought of the cameras from her mind, she left the bathroom and set about searching for a clean set of clothes, which she found in the form of several Hope’s Peak uniforms neatly folded and organized. Though not quite as comfortable or to her tastes in terms of style as the clothes she had been wearing when she first woke up in the classroom, they fit, and she supposed she could always ask Kanji for modifications should she decide she needed them. She also made a mental note to visit the laundromat the others had found when she had a free moment later.

Washed and presentable, she looked at the clock and discovered that more than an hour had slipped by while she had been relaxing in the shower. She hurried back to the dining hall to find most of the others already gathered, eating happily. Shinjiro was notably absent, but given his tardiness the day before she wasn’t particularly perturbed. Sure enough, she had no sooner sat down than he padded his way through the door, quiet and brooding as ever.

Breakfast was uneventful. Minako chatted some with Junpei and Fuuka while she ate, and the former would occasionally try to get a laugh out of the entire table with some antic or another. Though he never succeeded (and Minako was genuinely impressed at the stoicism of some of those present, because though the boy’s humor was somewhat hit-and-miss, he was genuinely funny), he continued making attempt after attempt until well after most of the group had left. Fuuka and Yukiko, at least, seemed to appreciate him.

Once even they were gone, it was just Minako and Kanji left behind, cleaning up the dishes and storing what little food was left, because Minako insisted that it was the least she could do after leaving him to do all the cooking himself. Though Kanji grumbled, he accepted the help, and between the two of them it did not take long to have the dining hall spick and span once again. They parted ways, agreeing to meet up to make dinner well before Monokoro would have a chance to get his paws on the kitchen again, and Minako found herself left without anything in particular to do. Faced with free time, she decided to wander the school in hopes of finding someone to talk with.

The hallway beyond the gate in the main living area was still decidedly creepy, and she subconsciously walked a little faster than normal when she was passing through it. The rooms attached to said hallway were slightly less so, though in their emptiness they carried a different sort of unnerving chill in their atmosphere. And most of the rooms were, in fact, empty; after briefly looking into a couple of the classrooms, the school store, and the AV room, she almost decided to give up and go back to her room. The thought of boredom, however, was enough to deter her from this idea, and she decided to at least look into the last classroom before she headed back. She opened the door and poked her head in and -

“Oh!” she exclaimed softly, because she certainly hadn’t been expecting that.

Chie seemed to have heard her, and broke off from the kiss she had been sharing with Yukiko to turn and face the door Minako was standing in with a look of surprise. The other girl muttered her name quietly in complaint, before she too opened her eyes and saw Minako.

“Oh!” Yukiko exclaimed, not quite as softly as Minako had when she first walked in. She then proceeded to blush profusely and try to stammer out an excuse as to why they had been standing so close to and holding each other before Chie sighed.

“I’m pretty sure she saw everything, Yukiko,” she said, silencing the dancer, “Well, come on in,” she told Minako, who obliged, shutting the door behind her as an afterthought.

“Uh…” Minako began, despite having given no thought whatsoever to what she would say after that, “So… are you two…” she trailed off making vague gestures with her hands, not sure what she could say without coming off as crass.

“Yep,” Chie spoke for the both of them, because Yukiko was still too embarrassed to say anything, “We’re together.”

“That’s….cool,” she nodded, shifting her eyes about the room, “Um… I’m sorry, I’m just really… not sure what to say in this situation.”

“Why’s that, exactly?” Chie asked, narrowing her eyes threateningly, “You got a problem?”

“Chie!” Yukiko finally found her voice again, “Stop it, you’re scaring the poor girl. I’m sure Minako’s just a little surprised, is all.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Minako happily took the bone that Yukiko had thrown her, “It’s not often you walk in on a couple of people kissing in a classroom,” Chie hummed slightly but didn’t make a further issue of it, “So, uh… how long have you two been…?”

“Dating? Oh, I don’t know,” Yukiko’s brow furrowed thoughtfully, “Only a few months officially, but we’ve been pretty much inseparable since forever, so it may as well be years.”

“Mhm!” Chie nodded, back to being chipper, “But uh… we’d appreciate if you didn’t let anyone else know. You never know how people might react, so…”

“Got it,” Minako assured her, making a zipping motion across her mouth, “Though wait a minute… if you don’t want people to know, why would you be kissing in a classroom?”

“Well we were going to use Chie’s room,” Yukiko began, “but then Monokoromaru showed up once we were inside and warned us against doing anything untoward in our rooms.”

“So you decided to use a classroom instead,” Minako said flatly.

“Well it was actually the dog’s suggestion,” Chie explained, “he said he’d ‘feel more at ease knowing we wouldn’t be doing too much’ in a more public location, and we figured without classes nobody would really have reason to come in here. Actually,” she looked puzzled, “why did you come in here in the first place?”

“Oh yeah!” Minako had forgotten all about what she had been doing in her surprise, “I was just looking around for someone to hang out with.”

“Alright. Well, we weren’t really doing anything too terribly important, so I guess you could chill with us, if you wanted,” Chie offered, “sound good to you, Yukiko?”

“Mhm!” the other girl nodded enthusiastically, “I’m always up for making new friends.”

“Oh,” Minako had not expected such warmth so suddenly after the confrontation they had just had, even with how brief and minor it had been, and as such was slightly taken aback, “Alright. So, um…” she grasped around her mind for something to say, then took hold of an idea and went with it, “How do you suppose Monokoro knew you two were an item in the first place? I mean he wouldn’t have said anything if he didn’t, probably.”

“Dunno, but that little mutt seems to know a lot of things he shouldn’t,” Chie pointed out, then muttered, “if I ever get my hands on the creep who took all our chest measurements…”

“Yours too?” Minako asked, and the two girls nodded.

“The worst part is anyone can see anyone else’s profile, so that informations available to everyone now. Ted was pretty happy when he discovered that,” Chie informed her. She shivered in disgust. That was definitely not something she wanted Teddie to know about her.

“Ugh, what’s that guy’s deal, anyway?” Minako asked, revolted.

“Oh, he’s not so bad, once you get to know him,” Yukiko assured her.

“You two keep telling me that, but I’m really not sure I believe you…” she muttered, “How’d you even end up friends with him in the first place?”

“He wasn’t always such a perv,” Chie said, “Used to be he was actually a real sweetheart, and all our parents were friends, so whenever they’d have a get together we’d be there too. Then he just… changed.”

“What, just like that?”

“Well, no, not all at once,” she corrected herself, “it was pretty gradual, and I guess we didn’t notice it as much ‘cause he never really pervs out on us. Probably figures we’re off limits as his childhood friends or something. Anyway, before we knew it he was hitting on girls left and right, trying to “score” as he puts it.”

“Why are you still friends with him then?”

“Well, we’re all from a pretty small town, so it would’ve been kinda hard to avoid him anyway, and like I said, he doesn’t bother us with all that,” she shrugged.

“Plus,” Yukiko piped up, “once he got started on his modeling career, we figured he’d get lonely always traveling around the way he does, so we thought it’d be nice for him to have someone to keep in touch with and keep him grounded a bit.”

“Wow. Okay.”

“Yep. So what about you? You made any friends in here yet?”

“Well, Fuuka’s nice and Junpei’s pretty funny, and I really enjoyed making breakfast with Kanji yesterday,” Minako mused.

“Really?” Chie asked incredulously, “Kanji looks so scary, though!”

“He does?” Minako gave the statement some thought, and, sure enough, she realized that she could see where Chie was coming from. She had to admit, between the nose piercing, his height, and that weird scar on his temple, the chef cut an imposing figure. Still, it was hard to imagine him ever actually doing anything to hurt someone, after having spent time with him, “Huh, I guess he kinda does,” she said, “Guess I never really noticed because he was so friendly. Besides, you don’t think Shinjiro looks scarier?”

“Well, yeah, he looks scarier,” the other girl conceded, “but his talent is working with animals. No one who’s good with animals can be a bad person,” she reasoned, and Yukiko nodded beside her.

“Animals can sense that sort of thing,” the dancer elaborated.

“I guess you have a point,” Minako agreed, “Man, imagine if people figured out a way to do that too. Maybe not naturally, but like, with a machine,” Yukiko snorted, then suddenly started guffawing, and was quickly doubled over from it, “Uh… is she alright?” she asked Chie.

“Oh, yeah, she’s fine,” she assured her casually, “She just has these laughing fits sometimes. Although I’m not really sure what was so funny about that last thing you said…”

“I-I’m sorry,” Yukiko managed to get out through bouts of laughter, “I’m just imagining a machine with the words ‘Asshole-O-Meter’ on it,” before she promptly became unintelligible again as soon as she said it out loud. Minako raised her eyebrows.

Well. She certainly hadn’t been expecting _that_.

\-------------------

Days passed. Minako spent much of her time socializing with the others, with a few exceptions, most of whom seemed bound and determined to keep to themselves. Naoto didn’t talk to anyone, as far as she could see, only spent his days wandering the small amount of the school they had access to, combing it from top to bottom in hopes of finding anything he had missed the first dozen times. She rarely saw Aigis outside of mealtimes, and she suspected the programmer spent her days locked up in her room, because there was no way she could miss her with all the walking around she did. Shinjiro she had actually made an attempt to talk to on suggestion of Akihiko, who turned out to be a childhood friend of the animal breeder, but he had brushed her off quite rudely, and she had no real desire to repeat the encounter.

And then, of course, there was Teddie, who she had been doing her best to avoid. Despite what Chie and Yukiko said, the model still rubbed her entirely the wrong way. It certainly wasn’t helping that while she was going out of her way to keep distance between the two of them, he was going out of his to close it. Fuuka sympathised with her, though Minako noted somewhat wryly that the other girl seemed to be glad she was not the sole bearer of Teddie’s attentions; then again, she could hardly blame her.

Regardless, things were mostly peaceful, aside from the occasional appearance of Monokoro to mock or taunt them. If someone told him to go away - usually Kanji, and usually in very colorful language - he would laugh at them and just generally act even more obnoxious than before. If he was ignored, he would throw a fit. Minako wasn’t sure which one was worse, but she supposed it didn’t matter, because they all had to put up with both anyway.

The day came when she had one clean uniform left out of those that had been left in the drawer in her room. She had putting off washing anything until she absolutely needed to. Mitsuru had actually advised them all to do this, because while everything seemed to be in good working order, there was no telling how long it would last, and it seemed prudent to conserve resources as much as possible. While this seemed like a good idea, Minako had mostly put off laundry day out of laziness. When the time finally did come where it was a necessity, she took her clothes to the laundry room, and that was where she ran into Yu.

Minako didn’t know much about Yu Narukami. Though she had spent time with him over the past few days, it had always been in a larger group, and one of the few things she had learned - perhaps the only thing she had learned, really - through these encounters was that the prince was a quiet sort, more prone to listening than speaking. Yet there he was, alone in the laundry room, quietly reading a magazine while the soft watery swish of a running washing machine filled the background. He looked up briefly when she entered, said a low hello, and went back to reading.

She loaded her own clothes into a washer without saying anything. She looked at the magazine rack to see if there was anything interesting to read. There wasn’t. She sat down at the table. She glanced over at Yu. He didn’t seem to notice. She cleared her throat. He noticed, but didn’t say anything.

“So… what’s your magazine about?” she finally asked, after an extended period of this.

“Fishing,” he said, even though the figure on the magazine’s cover was very clearly a giant mech.

“You liar!” she said, somewhat indignant despite herself, “it very clearly is not!”

“What is it about, then?” he asked, calmly and with a tone that suggested genuine curiosity.

“Well, I dunno, but it’s obviously not fishing!”

“How do you know that, if you don’t know what it’s about?”

“Because there isn’t a single fish on the cover!”

“Ah,” he said, nearly monotone as he flipped the page, “You caught me.”

Minako stared at the boy in disbelief. Despite the absurdity of what he was saying, he had managed to keep a straight face the entire time. Before long, however, the firmly set line of his mouth began to waver, like he was having trouble keeping the corners down, and then he broke into a smile and began to chuckle.

“I’m sorry,” he said, voice full of mirth, “I couldn’t resist.”

Yu’s smile was infectious, Minako found. She had to admit, it was pretty funny, and soon enough she was laughing along with him, which only seemed to brighten his smile. Once their laughter began to wind down, she posed the question to him again.

“But really, what are you reading?” she asked, her words still carrying a tinge of joy.

“Ah, it’s just some article about the potential moral implications of giving a mech an AI when it’s meant to be piloted by someone,” he shrugged, trying to pass it off as something he didn’t have much interest in, “Nerd stuff.”

“Oh really? What series is it referencing for context?” Minako asked, and the response gave Yu pause.

“Oh, uh… The Iron Hand of Heaven.”

“Hmmm… well, I can definitely see how that might make for an interesting discussion, but it’s not exactly like they’re breaking any ground by talking about it. That was sort of the point of the show to begin with.”

“Eh, it’s an old issue,” he told her, closing the magazine and tossing it on to the table, “Kinda surprised I found it, honestly. You’d think a school this prestigious might be able to keep current on its subscriptions.”

“Well you’d also think they wouldn’t have a talking dog telling us to kill each other, and yet…” Yu and Minako both fell silent at that, and the silence stretched on until one of the washers dinged and the prince got up, shifting its contents from the machine to a basket, and then from the basket into a dryer. When he sat back down, Minako made another attempt at conversation, “Anyway, I notice Yosuke and Rise aren’t around.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So I rarely see you without them. Did something happen?”

“Not really, I just decided I wanted some time to myself. I haven’t had much chance to think things over the past few days, what with everyone pretty much demanding my attention all the time.”

“Oh, sorry,” Minako said sheepishly, feeling guilty that she had interrupted him.

“No, it’s fine,” he assured her, “what’s happening now is two people who just happened to run into each other having a little chat, which is different from what I’m talking about in that you didn’t actively seek me out.”

“Oh, okay,” she nodded in understanding, “I guess it must get pretty annoying, always having people coming after you because you’re a prince and all.”

“Sometimes,” he admitted, “but with most people it’s not so bad. I just remind myself that they don’t fully understand that what they’re doing might be annoying. That’s actually part of the reason I was looking forward to coming to Hope’s Peak so much.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I figured Ultimates would know what it’s like, or else they’d see us as being on the same level, so they wouldn’t hound me as much. I was partly right; Rise gets it, and I think part of the reason she seeks me out so much is because she sees a kindred spirit in the “gets-a-lot-of-attention-because-of-our-social-status” department. Yosuke, on the other hand, seems to be sticking around because he’s a Risette fan.”

“Well, he probably just doesn’t know what it’s like, then,” Minako hypothesized, “I mean, being a mechanic isn’t exactly the most glamorous profession, so I doubt he gets the same level of attention as you.”

“That’s what I figured too,” Yu nodded, “still, being wrong is always a bit disappointing,” the timer dinged on Minako’s washing machine, and as she got up to transfer her clothes to the dryer, he began to talk again, “So what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Have you ever had anything interesting happen related to your talent?”

“Well, a few people I knew started trying to get closer to me once word got around I’d be attending Hope’s Peak, but other than that no. I’m still not entirely convinced my talent’s real.”

“Fair enough. I’d probably be pretty incredulous of something like Ultimate Luck too. Then again, that’s hardly the most unbelievable thing about this whole situation we’re in.”

“Yeah…” Minako trailed off, uncertain how to continue now that the conversation had circled back around to the one thing nobody wanted to talk about. She supposed it was inevitable that the topic would be brought up, but that didn’t mean she wanted to talk about it. At the same time, it was difficult not to, “Say, Yu… you don’t think anyone might actually… try something, do you?”

“It’s hard to say,” he said, after a moment of thought, “It doesn’t seem like it now, but sooner or later I think someone’s going to crack. Hopefully we’ll be rescued before then, but still, it’s a sobering thought.”

_*bing-bong bing-bong*_

“Ahem,” Monokoromaru’s voice sounded out over the speaker system, bringing Yu and Minako’s conversation to a halt, “All students should now assemble in the gymnasium for a very special announcement. Please hustle on over as quickly as possible. See you soon!”

“Well then,” Yu sighed, slapping his magazine down on the table and standing up with a scrape as his chair was pushed back, “I guess we should go see what that mutt wants from us this time.”

“Yeah,” Minako agreed reluctantly, following him out of the door.

\-------------------

“Now then,” Monokoromaru began, peering out at the assembled body of students over a pair of half-frame reading glasses, “I’m sure you’re all just positively itching to know why you’ve been gathered here, riiiiiiight? Of course I’m right! I am your headmaster, after all!”

“‘Course we wanna know what you want, so hurry up and tell us already!” Kanji shouted.

“Patience, Mr. Tatsumi, I was just about to get to that!” Monokoro huffed in feigned indignation before returning to his usual demeanor, “Now then, as you all may be aware, there has yet to be even a single murder, and of course I am very disappointed in all of you for all of this, but I recognize that I myself am not entirely blameless for this horrifying fact. After all, I forgot to provide you all with a proper motive! I mean, sure, the whole ‘escape the school’ thing should’ve been enough, but all of you seem to be clinging to the notion that you’ll be rescued! So, without further ado, I advise each of you to go to the A/V Room, where you’ll find a very special surprise.”

Though some of the students voiced protest at this newest development, Monokoro had disappeared once again. Minako, for her part, felt her blood run cold at the thought of something horrible enough to motivate a murder waiting for them just down the hall, something even worse than being trapped in the school. She wasn’t certain she wanted to know what was in the A/V room, but it seemed that some of the others didn’t share her reservations, as they were already moving out of the gym at various speeds. She felt the gentle nudge of Yu’s elbow in her side.

“Come on, we should find out what’s going on,” he advised, “Being left in the dark could only put us at a disadvantage against someone who decides they want to kill.”

She could see the sense in what he was saying, but it still took a monumental effort to force herself to start moving. When she finally did manage to arrive in the A/V room, she found the crowd of students gathered around one of the tables closest to the door. Pushing through the crowd as politely as she could, she saw that they were all looking at a cardboard box full of dvds, each one with a student’s name written on it. None of them had the courage to actually pick theirs out and watch it, however, until Shinjiro stepped forward and took his, grumbling the whole time. His movement opened the floodgates, and there was a sudden rush as everyone else tried to be the next to get theirs.

Minako got hers fairly quickly, and with shaking hands slid the disc into the dvd player of a nearby video booth. She fumbled with the attached headphones and just barely managed to get them on in time for the screen to flicker on and show the image of her family, sitting on the couch in their living room smiling broadly. Though the thought of them had kept her somewhat tethered the past few days, seeing their faces now sent waves of dread through her stomach. She didn’t even register that her mother was speaking at first.

“-so proud of you,” she was saying when Minako tuned in to the audio, “It’s not every day someone gets a chance like the one you have now, and we know you’ll make the most of it. As long as you try your best, everything will turn out for the best.”

“Yeah!” Ryoji exclaimed, excitedly, “We’re all rooting for you!”

“We love you, sweetie. Don’t ever forget that,” her father said, before the image turned to static and was replaced with a shot of the same angle of her living room, only instead of the familiar and comforting decor she was accustomed to was an absolute wreckage, as if some sort of wild animal had torn through her house. Her family was nowhere to be seen. Her dread intensified until she was all but certain she would break down, and, horrified, she yanked the headphones off her head and violently hit the power button next to the screen. Looking around, she saw similar reactions in her peers, though Kanji seemed to be more angry than mortified. It wasn’t hard to guess that they had all been shown similar videos.

“What the hell was that?” Kanji growled, pale as a sheet, “What the hell was that bullshit?” He asked again, shouting now, before he stood up quickly and barreled out of the room, shouting for Koromaru.

“Kanji, wait!” Yu called after him, to no avail, before he too was out the door like a shot, following the other boy through the halls. One by one the others all followed suit, until they were once again gathered in the gymnasium where Kanji was pacing back and forth, separate from the main group and screaming at Monokoro to come out and explain what they had just seen.

“Now now, there’s no need to shout,” the dog’s voice eventually came from behind them, close to the gym’s door, and the crowd split down the middle so that Kanji could see him through the group, “I’m right here, after all.”

“You!” The chef roared, looking as though he were about to charge at the small creature, “You owe us some goddamn answers! What the fuck was that you just showed us?”

“I’d think it would be fairly self explanatory. I designed those videos so even you’d be able to understand their meaning, after all.”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean, you little piece of shit?”

“It means that even as the densest member of this class, you should still be able to understand -”

Minako didn’t get to hear the rest of what the dog was going to say, because Kanji did charge then, shouting at the top of his lungs. Before she could even fully comprehend what was happening, Chie and Akihiko both rushed forward from opposite sides of the split crowd and each grabbed one of Kanji’s arms, holding him back from punting the robotic canine into the ceiling, almost like they had choreographed the maneuver beforehand.

“Let go of me! I’m gonna tear that little fucker apart!” he screamed, veins popping in his forehead.

“Come on man, think about this!” Akihiko shouted, “The rules say you can’t hurt him!”

“I don’t give a shit! He couldn’t possibly do anything to us!”

“Do you really want to take that chance?” Chie countered, struggling to subdue the much larger teenager even with help. Kanji screamed and screamed, hurling obscenity after obscenity at Monokoro, struggling all the while, before finally giving up and letting himself fall to the floor, evidently tired out. Minako was frozen to the spot while she watched all this, too shocked to act.

“Why is this happening?” She heard Fuuka say beside her, and Monokoro’s ears perked towards her.

“Why indeed? The world may never know,” he replied.

“Cut the shit, mutt,” Shinjiro said, the usual growl gone from his voice, which only served to make him sound more menacing, somehow, “Tatsumi’s right, you owe us some answers, starting with why you locked us all in here in the first place,” A chorus of assent backed up his assertion.

“Oh, very well,” Monokoro sighed, “I was hoping to draw out the why a bit longer, but seeing the looks on your faces right now, I just can’t resist spilling the beans! Alright, you ready? The reason I’ve gathered you all here…” he leaned forward conspiratorially and dropped his voice to a stage whisper, “Is because I want to see each and every one of you sink into the deepest depths of despair,” a wickedness unlike what they had seen from him so far flashed through the robot’s eyes for just an instant, almost too quick to notice, but Minako definitely saw it before he sprung back up to his usual two-legged standing position and the cheer flooded back into his voice, “That’s it!”

“Now, unless you needed me for something else,” he said in response to their silence following that last revelation, “I’ll be taking my leave. Toodles!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Sorry that one took so long, everybody, I had a hell of a time trying to figure out a motive before I finally decided to just go with something that had already been used. Fortunately, I have better ideas for future chapters. Anyway, the next chapter should take less time, which is good because things are about to get interesting. I hope you enjoyed!


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